An abusive boyfriend who used a hammer to murder his partner has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years.
Ben Shand was staying with 34-year-old Beth Aspey at her flat in Reading when he launched the attack on 30 April.
Shand, 45, initially denied being at the scene, but later changed his story and tried to blame her head wounds on his girlfriend being “clumsy”.
However, jurors at Reading Crown Court found him guilty of murder, and he has now been handed a life sentence.
IMAGE SOURCE,GOOGLEThe trial heard he was living at Ms Aspey’s flat in Laud Close while renovation work was being undertaken at his own property.
Ms Aspey told friends she was looking for “an escape route” from his violence in the months before her death, and wanted “this guy out of my flat”, jurors heard.
Shand claimed he found her body in the bathroom the day after the pair had been drinking heavily, and “panicked” because he feared he would be implicated because of an injury to his hand.
He admitted in court that he pretended to be locked out of the flat and sent texts to Ms Aspey to be let in, despite knowing she was already dead.
‘Senseless’
But Shand denied ever striking his girlfriend, and added: “I had no idea what had happened to her but I was aware of how clumsy she was.”
A post-mortem examination found Ms Aspey had been “repeatedly hit on the head with a weapon”, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was no scientific evidence to suggest a different attacker.
Victoria Forbes, of the CPS, said: “Beth Aspey tragically lost her life to a senseless act of violence, while her killer, Ben Shand, made deliberate attempts to cover his tracks.”
She added that she hoped the prison sentence would “bring a sense of justice to Beth’s loved ones, even though it cannot undo the heartbreaking loss they have suffered”.
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